Online education is becoming increasingly popular for both students and professors as the Internet creates new learning possibilities outside the traditional classroom.
In fall 2003, about 750 students enrolled for online courses, compared to 605 in fall 2002, 520 in fall 2001 and 331 in fall 2000, Distance and Community Education Program Coordinator Sandra Gladney said. The number of course titles available has remained at 13 on average each year, but capacity has been expanded as professors feel more comfortable taking on more students and course sections are added, she said.
“I think that people are becoming more and more comfortable learning this way,” Gladney said.
Online courses are available through the University Continuing Education program, and classes from arts and administration to economics and geology are available. Tuition rates depend on student status and whether students are part time or full time.
Gladney said the primary benefit of online classes is schedule flexibility.
She said the courses work well for students who work during the day and for students who have children.
“I also talk to a lot of students who are just a few credits short of graduating,” she said.
Gladney said it is important for students to examine their learning styles when deciding whether or not to take an online course.
“You have to kind of know yourself to know if it’s a disadvantage or advantage,” she said. “If you really like that people interaction, it can be kind of distracting to study alone.”
Senior Julie Wigdzinski said she is one credit shy of graduating so she opted to take an online course to fulfill the requirement.
“I thought it would make my schedule easier,” she said. “It’s a good way to get some requirements without taking a lecture.”
Wigdzinski is taking a linguistics course this term, and she said the curriculum is straightforward and doesn’t require a professor to explain the information.
“It’s not really conceptual,” she said. “I can’t see what benefits having a class lecture would be. I think it would be a big waste of time.”
But she said not all subjects are appropriate for Internet classes. Wigdzinski said she found herself struggling to make the grade when she took an economics course online her freshman year.
“Basically everybody would bomb the tests,” she said, adding that the curriculum was difficult to understand without a professor’s explanation.
“You have to teach yourself the information,” she said, adding that the educational value isn’t as high for online courses that deal with more conceptual information.
“I think the quality is jeopardized,” she said.
Arts and Administration Program Senior Instructor Kassia Dellabough, who teaches online classes, said online course quality is often questioned.
“That’s always a debate, across the country, across the world,” she said.
Dellabough said she was originally skeptical of online courses, but now she enjoys teaching them as much as traditional classes.
“I’m surprised it’s actually so effective,” she said.
Since 1997, she has taught the same Art and Human Values class either online or in the classroom.
“I have very similar assignments and curriculum that run parallel with both classes,” she said.
She said she can better evaluate the quality of education students are getting online because she uses both methods to teach the course.
“I can track pretty closely the end result,” she said. She added that it seems some students feel more comfortable voicing their opinions online.
“I get into more in-depth dialogue with them.”
Even though online courses do not always require a physical presence, Dellabough said she doesn’t worry about students cheating. Her classes require personal written work and a final group project.
“I have to trust it’s original work,” she said, adding that students can just as easily submit plagiarized work in traditional classrooms.
Gladney said online cheating has not been a serious issue in the program.
“There has not been an official problem,” she said, adding that most courses are monitored by proctors while students take online tests.
Dellabough said online courses create more possibilities for learning than traditional classrooms because students, professors and guest speakers can participate from anywhere around the world.
“They’re bringing in a wide cultural experience,” she said.
More information about online education and spring term class listings can be found at http://de.uoregon.edu.